Epicyclic bread slicing machine



July 16, 1935. F. a. SCHMLTT EPICYCLIC BREAD SLI GING MACHINE Filed Aug. 20, 1931 {Sheets-Sheet 1 m BY M ATTORNEY F. R. scHw'r'r 2,008,111 EPICYCLIC BREAD SLICING MACHINE July 16, 1935.

Filed Aug. 20, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 W ATTORNEY July l6, 1935. F. R. SCHMITT EPICYCLIC BREAD SLICING MACHINE Filed Aug. 20, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 '[NVE TO W M ATTORN EY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 20, 1931 FIG.4

ATTORNEY Patented July 16, 1935 2,008,111

UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcrz EPICYCLIC BREAD SLICING MACHINE- Frank Reinhold Schmitt, Queens Village, N. Y., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of-New Jersey ApplicationAugust 20, 1931, Serial No. 558,214 14 Claims. (Cl. 146-98) This'invention relates to'bread slicing machines may be readily removed and replaced and to proand particularly to'an improved type of machine vide a simple and effective drive for rotating the designed through the elimination of reciprocating knives about their own axis and also giving them parts to operate at higher speeds and with less orbital movement in a circular path crossing the vibration than heretofore possible. To this end, path of the loaves. Still another object is to pro- 5 it is an object of the invention to provide a slicvideasafety lock which will positively prevent any ing machine in which the movements of the. accidental movement of the plate carrying knives slicer blades are continuous smooth rotary mowhile the power is turned off and knivesare being tions. Another object of the invention is to proworked on and which will prevent operation of vide for bettersupporting and securing of the the clutch by which the knifesupporting head is 10 loaves and the slices resulting therefrom at the driven before unlatching the safety lock. Another time of slicing. Another important object is to objectis to provide in combination with such a provide for the slicing of hot bread without conmachine a suitable bread separator for separating cave slices particularly at the end, and without the loaves to be sliced from loaves in face to face I caving in the forward side of the loaf. Since most contact in a supply chute. With these and other 1:; bread is sliced hot while .very soft, and since it objects not specifically mentioned in view the then presents very little resistance to crushing invention consists in certain constructions'and and deforming this is an important item, and combinations which will be hereinafter fully deapplicant has in order to avoid these difficulties, scribed and then specifically set forth in the arranged his knives in tandem so that only one claims hereunto appended. r 2 half of the slicing is done at one time and ac- In the accompanying drawings, which form a cordingly twice the supportis provided at each part of this specification and in which like charslicing position. This feature has been found acters of reference indicate the same or like particularly eflicacious in eliminating the conparts, Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section cave slice which in practice have been quite comof the improved slicing machine; Fig 2 is a -sec-' 25 mon with slicers of this general type. Better tional end elevation taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; slices have been obtained also by reason of the .Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the slicing machine supporting and securing of the slices against roshown in Fig.1, showing the safetylock of theretation and displacement as the result of the volving knife supporting head; Fig. 4 is a detail .friction of the knives against their surfaces, apsectional side elevation showing the mechanism 30 plicant providing for this purpose clamping inechfor clamping the loaf. anism and also impaling pins which cooperate In carrying the invention into effect there is with the clamps so they may be used separately provided in combination with a runway for bread to secure each individual slice. It will be seen loaves,devices for feeding loaves along said runthat in this manner the slices are secured quite way together with a gang of knives for slicing 35 firmly despite the fact that the surfaces of the the loaves in the runway and means for moving loaf must be left open to the action of the knives. the, said knives in an orbital path to carry the Another object of the invention is to provide knives across the path of the loaves. Preferably smoother slices due to theknife-like rather than means are provided for rotating saidgang of the saw-like .actionof rotating disks as well as to knives ahou't its own axis. In the best construc- 40 secure these results without certain disadvantions 9. second gang ofknives is provided behind. tages which in some circumstances result from the first gang, the knives of the second gang the larger surface of the knives and from fricpreferably being staggered relative to the first tion on' the knife. Thus, due to the tandem and gang and in the most desirable constructions staggered relationship of the plurality of gangs being rotated about its own axis. In the best 5 of knives used, fewer cuts are being made at one form of the inventionlan intermittently operated time and there is less compressionat any one clamp engages the loaf during the slicing optime on'the bread due to the action and thickeration. The various means referred to may ness of the knives. A principal object is the be varied widely in construction within" the scope elimination of the vibration which results from of the claims, for the particular device selected 50 reciprocating parts. This vibrationfrom such to illustrate the invention is but meet many parts is very difficult to eliminatenecessitating possible concrete embodiments of the same. The expensive and imperfect dynamic and static balinvention therefore is not to be restricted to the ancing. Other objects are to provide a simple precise details shown and described.

and convenient construction from which knives Referring now to the drawings, particularly 55 35 and 36 respectively.

Figs. 1 and 2, the entire slicing attachment is mounted in the slicer frames |6 kept in alignment with a bread wrapping machine with which this machine is commonly used by two guide shafts l2 connected to the frame ofthe wrapping machine, which shafts on their overhanging ends carry bearing brackets |3 supporting a shaft l4 on which are mounted sprockets l5 carrying the endless conveyer chains |6 conveniently driven from the main drive of the wrapping machine. The conveyer chains I6, at equal intervals, are equipped with pairs of opposed gripping lugs l1, l8, the hind lug of each pair and the fore lug of the next pair holding a loaf L between them. Lugs l1 are mounted rigidly on the chains l6 while lugs I8 are of the swinging type, being pivoted to bearing links l9 mounted on the chains I6 and equipped with arms 20 carrying rollers 2| bearing against a guide plate 22. The reason for making one of each pair of clamp lugs swingable is to assure a perfect entry of the loaf between the open lugs I1 and [8, the latter of which by the advancement of the chains l6, through roller 2| and guide plate 22, is then swung toward the loaf L, assuring a firm grip on thelatter and eliminating shifting of the same during the slicing operation as well as during its-transfer to the wrapping mechanism. The chain I6 is driven in intermittent motion from the main. drive of-the wrapping machine and is a part thereof. It. is for convenience extended into the slicing mechanism, for the purpose of eliminating an extra conveyer or separatehandling of the loaves and the application of trays, etc., for holding the slices together in transit.

The motion of the slicing machine, exceptthe rotation of its knives, is derived from a shaft 23 operated for convenience when used in connection' with a wrapping machine, through a drive from the main drive of the wrapping machine. Shaft 23 is supported in bearings of frames Hi and and carries a bevel gear 24 driving bevel gear 25 on shaft 26 having another bevel gear 21 meshing with bevel gear 28 mounted on knife supporting head 29 keyed to shaft 30 carrying a duplicate knife supporting head 3| Shaft 30 is supported in bearings of frames l and is equipped with a hand wheel 32..

The knife supporting heads 29 and 3| in easily demountable bearings carry the knives in gangs on shafts 33 and 34 which are driven from gears The knife gangs are arranged in tandem, see Fig. 4, with the knives in one gang in staggered relation to the knives in the other; This assures a thicker body of bread between adjoining knives when entering the loaf and thus reduces the likelihood of crushing or deforming the loaf and slices. Another valuable result is that the maximum power required is greatly reduced and the power load'is more evenly distributed. The importance of this will be realizedfrom the fact that the power required for operating the slicers is from three to five times as greatas that required for instance to run an entire bread wrapping machine. Part of this reduction in power consumption is' due to the fact that half the knives operating at once compress the bread laterally, due to their thickness, less than all the knives operating at once.

The knives are secured on the shaft by means of a series of clamping collars 34a and are clamped against the knife disk by means of a clamp nut 34b. Thus when it is desired to reaoos, 1 1 1 move a worn or broken knife it is only necessary to demount the shafts 33 or 34, unscrew nut 34b and slide off collars and knives. By using narrower or broader collars the thickness of the slice may be varied.

Both gears 35 and 36 are in mesh with a gear 31 mounted on shaft 38 which is supported by knife suporting head 3|. Shaft 38 carries also a gear 39 meshing with a gear 40 loosely mounted on shaft 30. Fastened to gear 49' is a pulley 4| driven through V-shaped belts 42 from an independent motor 43 mounted on base 44 of frames I9. Knife shafts 33 and 34 carry a plurality of circular knives 45 suitably spaced apart to produce slices of the required thickness. The gangs of knives 45 are independently and continuously rotated about their own axis through the described gear arrangement by a motor 43. This arrangement has the advantage of making practicable uniform speed of the knives 45 regardless of whether the wrapping machine and slicing attachment are operated slow or fast. All motions in the slicing attachment are continuous and rotary thus eliminating vibration, the knives 45 traveling in an orbital path around the shaft 30.

Referring to Fig. 3, shaft 30 is equipped with a disk 46 having slots 41 and 48 provided for engagement with a lock lever 49 pivoted on a stud 50 and having an arm mounted through rod 52 to one arm of a double lever 53 pivoted on stud 54. Lever 53 is actuated by a foot lever 55 slidably mounted in a bracket 56 on frame In. This locking mechanism also acts as a safety device working in conjunction with clutch 51 on shaft 23 which drives the slicing mechanism. Clutch 51 is operated by a fork lever 58 equipped with a handle 59. The fork lever 58 has an arm 60 swinging in the path of an extension 6| of lever 53 when the locking mechanism is in engagement, so that the machine cannot be started or clutch 51 operated as long as extension 6| is in the way of the clutch operating lever. Only by tripping foot lever 55, the locking mechanism in disk 46 can be disengaged, thus lowering the extension 6| and giving lever 60 free movement to engage the clutch and start the machine. By this means the knives may be locked in fixed position and the clutch can not be engaged while the knives are locked. Rod 52 is equipped with a tension spring 62 so that lock lever 49 is always in tension towards slots 41 and 48, but while clutch 51 is in engagement,a snap lock 63 holds arm 60 of clutch lever 58 in such a position that extension 6| of lever 53 cannot move backward; Slots 41 and 48 are so arranged that if the machine is locked in either one of them, .the knives are entirely out of the way and the wrapping machine can be used without the slicer "to wrap unsliced bread, and furthermore, the knife sup-- porting heads 29 and 3| are in such a position that it is easy to remove knife shafts 33 and 34 and knives 45 for adjustment or replacement.

The loaves L are fed into the machine on an inclined feed chute 64 mounted on frames l0,

. Fig. l. The feed chute 64 is provided with means for separating the loaves for proper timing on.

rod slidably supported by bracket 1|. Rod

10 is equipped with a roller 12 bearing against the roller 12 in tension against disk 13. l The weight of the passing loaf, when released by the stop as explainedyholds the stop 65 down,,but the latter will come up into the spacebetween two loaves-due to the tension of the spring 15 on the rod 10, thereby swinging the stop upwardly into engagement withthe bottom-front edge of the next loaf and retaining it in engagement with said ;edge until the stop is again released by the action of the nose l4 and will thus separate them.

As heretofore stated, the loaf during the slicing operation is clamped in a cutting box consisting of a; series of spaced clamp fingers 1,6 acting on one side and the top of the loaves. These fingers 16 as shown in Fig.4, are attached to abracketm 11 which is adjustably fastenedto a lug 18 mounted on shaft 'lfl'oscillated througha lever and roller 8! by a cam 82 mounted on shaft 23. The latter operates the fingers'l6 in such a manner as to clamp the loaf during the slicing operation, and then to release. the loaf, allowing the sliced loaf to move out and a new loafto move into the cutting'box andthen repeat the opera-' tion. The fingers "I6 clamp the loafagainst the stationary slotted supporting fingers 83, thus assuring even and straight cut slices as the loaf is' held firm and tight from every side. In order to prevent uneven or'curved cutting of the rear end of the loaf due among otherthings to the tendency of the slices to rotate, a number of steadying impaling pins 84 cooperate with the clamp fingers to enter the loaf during the slicing operation. The pins 84 are mounted on a bar 85 slidably supported by guide rods 86 stationarily mounted in brackets 81. Bar 85 is equipped with studs 88 engaging with double levers 89 pivoted to brackets 90 mounted on rear guide shaft l2, Figs. 2 and 4. Levers 89 are connected by rod 9i carrying in its center a connecting rod 92 actuated through roller 93 by a cam 94 mounted on shaft 23 behind the cam 82, as viewed in Fig. 4. Pins 81 enter the loaf only during the cutting operation, withdrawing again immediately after the same.

The improved slicing device is equipped with a safety guard 95, ing heads 29 and 3| carry the adjustable counterweights 99-, Fig. 4.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a runway for bread loaves, of devices for clamping loaves by their ends and feeding them endwise along said runway, a gang of knives for slicing the loaves, means for bodily moving said knives in a closed orbital path to carry the knives across the path of the loaves, and means for rotating said gang of knives about its own axis to slice the loaves, whereby said devices will press and hold together the slices of each loaf while feeding it after it is sliced.

2. The combination with a runway for bread loaves, of devices for clamping loaves by their ends and feeding them endwise along said runway, a gang of knives for slicing the loaves, means for bodily moving said knives in a closed orbital Fig. 2 and the knife support-' pathto carry the knives across the path of the loaves, and a second gang of knives behind the first and operated by said means, the knives of slices and theknives of one gang being'staggered the thickness of one slice with respect to the each gang being spaced the thickness of two knives of the other gang, whereby saidgangs will slice each loaf, and said devices will press and hold together the slices of eachloafwhile feed ing it after it issliced.

3. The combination with arunway for bread loaves, of devices for clamping loaves by their ends and feeding them endwise along "said runway, agang ofknives for slicing the loaves, means forhodily movingfsaid knives in a 'closed orbital path to carry. the blades across the path of the loaves, and a second'gang of knives behind the first and operated by said means, the blades of said second gang being staggered relative-to the first fgang, whereby said gangs will slice each loaf, and said devices will press and hold together the slices of each loaf while feedin'git after it is sliced. r

- 4. The combination with 'a runway for bread loaves, of devices for feeding the loaves along said runway,

the'path of the loaves, the gang of knives being rotatable about its own axis, a drive for moving the knives in said orbital pathin predetermined knives of, the gangat' aspeed independent of the speed of the rest of the machine.

5. The combination with a loaf support, of dea gang of knives for slicing the"- loaves, and means for bodily moving said knives in a closed orbital path to carry the knives across timed relation to the operation of theloaf feeding devices, and a'separate drive forrotatin'g the vices on said support for clamping theends ofu a loaf, means for moving said support to move the clamped loaf endwise intothe range of action of said slicing means, plural knife slicing means, mechanism for periodically moving said slicing means transversely of said support to slice 2. stationary loaf thereon into a plurality of slices, whereby said devices press and hold together the slices of the leaf after it is sliced, and means moving toward and away from the loaf and connected in timed relation to said mechanism for clamping the sides of the loaf during slicing.

6. Bread loaf securing means for slicing machines comprising devices having opposed surfaces for engaging the loaf, mechanism intermittently operating one of said devices to clamp the loaf, and movable pins cooperating with said devices to pierce and pin in position the clamped loaf, and mechanism intermittently operating said pins.

7. Bread loaf securing means for slicing machines comprising devices having opposed surfaces for engaging the loaf, mechanism operating one ofsaid devices to clamp the loaf, and movable, pins cooperating with said devices to pierce and pin in position the clamped loaf, said devices including a plurality of spaced clamps with the distance between the centers of the clamps equal to the thickness of a slice, and said pins being aligned with said clamps to provide at least one clamp and at least one pin for each the shaft with a collar between eachdisk and means for detachably clamping'the disks andcollars on said shaft. a

9. The combinationwith a runway for bread loaves, of devices for feeding the loaves along said runway, a gang of kniveslfor slicing the loaves, means for bodily moving said knives in a closed orbital path to carry the knives across the path of the loaves said means including a pair of coaxial rotating arms and mechanism for rotating said knives about their own axis comprising a shaft journaled in said arms, a driving member coaxial withthe axis of the arms and connections between said member and said shaft.

10. The combination with a'runway for bread loaves of devices for feeding the loaves along said runway, a gang of knivesfor slicingthe loaves, means for, bodily moving said knives in a closed orbital path to carry the blades across the path of the loaves andmanually operable machanism for incapacitating said means while it is moving the gang of knives in theorbital path andthen locking said gang in inoperative position, said means including a'pair of coaxial rotating arms and mechanism for rotating said knives about their own axis comprising a shaft journaled in said arms,'a driving member coaxial with the axis of the arms, and connections between said member and said shaft.

vll. In a bread slicing machine, the combination with a gang ofslicing knives, of mechanism for giving the gang bodily movement in, a closed orbital path, means for incapacitating said mechanism while it is moving the gang of knives in the orbital path and then looking said gang in inoperative position, saidmechanism including a driving clutch and connections between said means and said clutch for preventing engagement of the clutch While the blades are locked.

' gang knives on 12. The combination with bread forwarding mechanism, of gang knives, of means for producing an epicyclic rotating movement of said'gang knives on their own axes and about an external axis to' cause them to move into the path of bread forwarded by said mechanism to cute. loaf into slices in 'one'cycle of machine operations, said gang knives being arranged in two sets in lateral- 1y staggered relationship with each other and one set being circumferentially behind the other.

13. The combination withbread forwarding mechanism, of gang knives, and-means for pro-,- 7

ducing an epicyclic rotating movement of said their own/axes and about an external axis to cause them to move into the path of bread forwarded by said mechanism to cut a loaf into slices in one cycle of machine operations, and manually operable devices for incapacitating said means and locking said knives in inoperative'position.

14. The combination with a runway for bread loaves, of means for slicing bread in said runway including a rotary slicing blade rotating on an axis extending along said runway, a chain conveyor having an endless series of opposed pairs of grippers arrangedto grip opposite ends of the loaves outside the range of action of said blade, and 1 means operating said chain conveyor to move the loaves endwise along said runway into and beyond the range of action of said blades while the grippers maintain their grip on the loaves, said conveyor including a pair of separate sprockets, parallel chains passing over said sprockets, the opposed grippers of each pair being secured to different chains to permit relative adjustment of the grippers of each of said pairs by adjusting one chainlengthwise with respect to the other.

- FRANK REINHOLD scmvn'rr. 

